Marubi Film Academy
Human Rights Film Festival
Starting from October 1st Marubi Film Academy will screen movies concerning human rights in general. The movies will be screened from 18:00 hrs to 19.30 hrs, at Marubi’s premises. The entrance is free
Gevald
October 1st, 18.15
Directed by: Netalie Braun,
Screenplay by: Netalie Braun,
16 min
The gay community in Jerusalem is a Jewish-Palestinian community struggling for the basic right to exist. As the life of gays, lesbians and transgender in Tel-Aviv becomes more open and free, the community in Jerusalem faces many obstacles and threats and constantly lives in fear. Various religious groups oppose the mere presence of gay people in the holy city and argue that homosexuality is an illness that should be eradicated. Before each pride parade the there are huge and violent protests held by religious organizations to prevent the parade from taking place. The city is covered with anti-gay propaganda posters claiming that homosexuality is a sin and encouraging the public to act against the gay community in whatever means they see fit. In the 2005 Jerusalem pride parade, three people where stabbed by an Ultra-Orthodox religious Jew who charged at the marchers with a knife. To prevent such things from happening the following year, the parade was canceled and replaced with a small event in a confined area. Gevald tells an almost impossible love story between two women at the eve of the 2006 pride event in Jerusalem. The two were a couple till one of them, a religious woman, could not deal with it and left to be married to a man. A few months later she suddenly shows up to warn her beloved from something dangerous she knows is about to happen at the pride event the following day. Will she be able to save her life? The plot takes places the night before the pride event in the “Shushan”, the only gay bar in Jerusalem (which was since closed). This is the only place were gay, lesbian, transgender; bisexual and intersex people can come together and be who they are.
Small Town Boy
October 1st at 18:00 hrs
Director: Moby Longinotto
Producer: Moby Longinotto,
Editor: Matthias Dombrink,
Sound: Jake Roberts, Music: Chris White, Production Company: Brit Docs
13 min
Beyond the rainbow
Octber 1st at 18.30 hrs
Director: Ismet Sijarina,
Screenplay by Ismet Sijarina,
Producer: Antoneta Kastrati Cooper Johnson,
Production /Crossing Bridges Production, Prishtina
Documentary
45 min
The Birthday
October 1st at 19.15 hrs
Director: Negin Kianfar & Daisy Mohr,
Production: Gijs van de Westelaken for Column Film,
Director of Photography: Behnam,
Editing: Ewoud Hendriksen,
Music: Rainer Hensel
63 min
In the words of an Iranian specialist on sex change operations, “if Iran is a paradise for transsexuals, it’s because of the good support of the authorities.” The setting for this documentary arises out of the interesting legal circumstances existing in Iran, which neither forbid nor condemn trans-sexuality because it is not mentioned in the Qu’ran. The result is Daisy Mohr and Negin Kianfar’s intimate and compelling film about Iranian transsexuals, following their experiences of the operation process. For the central character, a young male to female-transsexual, this will also entail the subsequent adoption of the veil, and the relinquishing of certain individual freedoms. Mohr and Kianfar consider the effects that the sex change procedure will have over many aspects of their subjects’ lives, featuring the perspectives of their doctors, their families and their partners. They examine the implications that their new identities will have for their faith and their personal liberty, and how for all of them it will alter the way they are perceived by society. The subject matter is skillfully handled, producing a balanced yet fascinating portrait of schizophrenic lives in a schizophrenic environment.
